


In The Land Of Gods And Monsters (Life Imitates Art)

by joidianne4eva



Series: Tricksters [4]
Category: Fantastic Four (Movieverse), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Losers (2010), The Losers - All Media Types, The Tricksters - Margaret Mahy
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 09:06:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1104997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidianne4eva/pseuds/joidianne4eva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen wasn’t fucking surprised when one of Aisha’s tips led them straight into a trap. He was pissed but not surprised. If Clay had had any common sense at all he would have realized that trusting the bitch that had tried to kill them all was a really stupid plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Land Of Gods And Monsters (Life Imitates Art)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [el_gilliath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/el_gilliath/gifts).



> Huge thanks to Cougars_Catnip for the beta and to Saral_Hylor for the read through.

Jensen wasn’t fucking surprised when one of Aisha’s tips led them straight into a trap. He was pissed but not surprised. If Clay had had any common sense at all he would have realized that trusting the bitch that had tried to kill them all was a really stupid plan.

The only good thing to come out of the whole situation was the fact that they’d only captured him. He knew that the team would come for him but the point was he could hold out longer than any of them. Plus there was the fact that he would have lost his fucking mind if they’d grabbed Cougar instead.

The room that he was being held in was beyond cliché. Solid grey walls, no windows and just a table and the chair he was tied to as furniture. Jensen was surprised that they’d stopped there. He’d at least expected some blood splatter on the walls and maybe a decomposing body or two swinging from the ceiling. The image made him snort and he immediately regretted it when his recently broken ribs staged a mini mutiny. Jensen was pretty sure that one of the little fuckers had just knifed him in the lung.

Flicking his gaze around the room to distract himself from the pain, the hacker noted several cameras. Well, if the _tools_ on the table hadn’t clued him in on what was about to happen, the cameras pretty much drove the idea home.

The door to the room opened and a short man in a suit strode inside. The man smiled at him and Jensen smiled back because common courtesy always fucked with peoples’ heads, especially when they were trying to kill you.

The man frowned at him and Jensen barely resisted the urge to start humming the Jaws’ theme song because he didn’t want the man to think that he was crazy…at least not yet.

“Mr Jensen, you may not know me so let me introduce myself, my name is Max,” the man greeted and Jensen’s smile slipped off his face like water off a duck’s back. “It’s nice to see that you remember me.”

Jensen’s grin was manic this time as he started to tap his fingers against the arm of the chair.

“Yeah, pretty hard to forget the guy who was trying to kill you and ended up killing a copter full of kids instead,” he retorted, licking his lips. “Now let me guess, you’re here to make me an offer I can’t refuse because let me tell you buddy that works a helluva lot better if you’re stroking a white cat. Plus there’s the whole ‘I want to fucking stab you in the eye’ thing that we’ve got going. That’s kind of a relationship killer so unless you’re offering me a time machine, I’d save my breath.”

The man chuckled lightly like Jensen was joking, like he hadn’t lived long enough to know exactly where and when to cut to keep him alive long enough to suffer. Jensen didn’t just want this fucker dead; he wanted him to _pray_ for death.

He could feel the familiar buzzing in his head that meant that his thoughts were leaking through the barriers that kept him, Steve and Johnny separated but he couldn’t stop.

His nose was filled with the scent of smoke and the screams that had never come because the children hadn’t even seen their death coming. That was the only saving grace here, the only thing that had kept Jensen sane enough to focus his anger instead of lashing out mindlessly. The children had only thought of their freedom when entered they that helicopter and Jensen hoped that it had been so sudden that they hadn’t felt a thing.

“I think we’ve got off on the wrong foot,” Max smirked and Jensen wasn’t surprised when two men that look like they’d been genetically infused with gorilla DNA stepped into the small room. Jensen had totally called the whole torture thing but he kept his face blank as dumb and dumber walked towards him. Behind them Max was still talking and Jensen let himself focus on the man’s voice. “There’s only one thing that I want you to do and believe me, Mr Jensen you’re going to cooperate.”

Jensen sneered at him because fuck it this was going to hurt either way. “Really and what’s that?”

Max flashed him a shark’s smile. “All I need you to do is scream.”

*O*

Steve froze as pain that wasn’t his own tore through his body and for a second his vision blurred. Grabbing the punching bag he barely managed to remain standing before the feeling vanished like a phantom lover fleeing in the light of day but it had been there long enough for him to know who it was.

**_Jake._ **

Inhaling the man straightened before exhaling slowly. It looked like he was going to have that conversation with Tony sooner than he’d expected.

Heading for his room, Steve dodged his teammates because he didn’t need or want any of them with him this time. 

There was a duffle under his bed that he’d packed the moment that he’d been allowed to go out without an escort and he pulled it out now.

People tended to forget that behind the shield, behind the mask Steve Rogers was a man just like any other. The serum had changed him but he’d never been a saint and his soul wasn’t clean. There were things that he’d done that no one but his brothers knew about because they would never judge him.

Captain America belonged to their country, he stood for freedom and peace but Steve Rogers belonged to Jake and Johnny. Recently he’d added Tony’s name to that list and the members of his team were staring to weasel their way in as well but his brothers would always be his responsibility. As the lynchpin, the original, it was his duty to keep them safe and nobody laid a damn hand on them without answering to him.

Swinging the duffel over his shoulder Steve took the stairs two at a time until he was standing in front of Tony’s lab door. Keying in the sequence he stepped into the room and thankfully Tony wasn’t blasting his music because Steve would need his full attention for this.

*O*

“Johnny, you can’t just run off to God knows where! What if we need you?!” Susan shouted but Johnny didn’t turn around, he just kept throwing clothes into the bag. He’d felt Jake’s pain and he knew that his brother would never have let that happen not unless it was something that he couldn’t bear on his own. When Steve called him, he’d already been packing because there was no one in this world he would give up more for than his brothers…not even Sue.

He should’ve told her the truth, he knew that but he’d tried to protect her the best way he could. If she knew where he was going she’d want an explanation and Johnny couldn’t give her that.

Not now.

“Sue, you’ll be fine but I have to do this, ok?” he whispered and he could see the second that she realized he was serious because the anger on her face shifted to fear.

“Johnny, tell me what’s going on,” she begged. “If you’re in trouble we’ll work it out, we’ll….”

“You can’t help, not with this but I’m coming back. I just need to get this done,” Johnny responded, trying to offer her up a smile. The way that she was staring at him told him that he’d failed miserably. But not even the look on Sue’s face could keep him there, not with the echo of Jake’s pain still lingering in the back of his head.

So he did the only thing he could, he pulled the girl who he called his sister into his arms and hugged her.

*O*

“I’m coming with you,”

Steve frowned at Tony as the words left the man’s mouth. “No you’re not.”

“Look, Cap, you and your double need to go find Rogers number three fast which means you’re gonna have to use the jet and since I own said jet and I have a vested interest in you coming home then I’m coming with you.”

“Tony…..”

“Steve…..” Tony mocked and Steve wasn’t ever going to admit that he loved the stubborn man standing in front of him. Tony’s arms were crossed and his eyes narrowed as if he was daring Steve to tell him ‘No,’ and God knows he wanted to. Steve didn’t want Tony to see them together, not because he was ashamed of his brothers, he was scared of what they became when they were together but Tony had a right to see that for himself.

“Fine,” Steve breathed, finally and Tony’s grin told him that he’d made the right choice. It wasn’t like Tony wouldn’t have tracked him down even if he’d said no.

*O*

Jensen’s head rocked back with the force of the hit and the crunch of bones followed by the wave of pain radiating though his skull told him that Jackass the second had broken his nose.

A splatter of blood landed on his jeans and he blinked to clear his blurry vision. At least this was better than their waterboarding attempt. The fucking idiots didn’t realize that if it wasn’t for his extra _parts_ he would’ve actually drowned a while back.

Someone grabbed his hair, forcing his head back and Jensen glared up into Max’s face, his gaze focusing on the phone in the man’s hand.

“Why don’t you smile for your teammates, Mr Jensen?” the man taunted and Jensen bared his bloody teeth at him.

“Fuck you!”

“No need to be like that,” Max tssked as he put the phone away. “After all they’ll be coming for you soon.”

Jensen licked his lips, tasting the copper of his own blood. “Oh they’re gonna be coming for me alright but my team isn’t who you should be worried about,”

Max cocked a brow at that. “And who _should_ I be concerned about?” he asked but Jensen just snorted as the buzzing in his head grew louder. It was so hard to keep himself from reaching out but he knew that all he had to do was hold on just a little longer.

Refocusing on Max, he grinned, despite the sting that came from his busted lip. “Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it?”

*O*

Carlos had learned to be still at his abuela’s feet after he’d punched another boy in the face when he was five.  His mama had thrown her hands in the air declaring that he had the Santiago temper and there was no helping him but his abuela’s reaction had been different.

She’d looked him in the eye, wiping away his tears as she kissed his bruised knuckles and she’d told him something that he remembered to this day.

**_“That fire inside your chest, it will hurt people you do not wish to hurt if you cannot control it,”_** she’d whispered and when Carlos asked her how she told him to be still, be still and wait. **_“Nothing in this world can outrun a patient man.”_** She’d said and Carlos made himself listen to her advice every day.

He watched as Aisha paced the room, barking words into the phone in her hand. He could feel Roque behind him, and the heaviness of his anger was punctuated by each ‘shnick’ of his knives as he sharpened them.

Roque had told Clay, he’d told all of them that Aisha was bad news but they hadn’t listened.

They should’ve listened.

Clay and Pooch had been out all morning, following leads and Cougar was left here to watch the woman that had caused Jensen’s capture.

Aisha claimed that she’d been fed false info and while Cougar knew that Clay believed her, not even his CO’s faith would hold him back if they didn’t find Jensen soon.

Aisha glanced at him and whatever she’d seen on his face made her expression harden but Cougar didn’t care.

 He was tired of being still.

*O*

Tony Starks was a self-proclaimed genius but above all that, he was a smart man. When Steve had told him about his ‘brothers’, Tony had done some digging, not enough to make anyone suspicious but enough to satisfy his curiosity.

It looked like dear old dad hadn’t known Steve as well as he’d thought he had because there was no mention of Steve’s replicas in any of Howard’s notes but there had been something. There’d been sightings of the Captain in places that he couldn’t be, doing things that Steve wouldn’t do but Tony was starting to re-evaluate exactly how much he knew about Steve Rogers.

 “Jarvis, how long until we get to Rogers number two’s pick up point?” Tony called, noting the way that Steve glanced at him but the only way that the Captain was going to avoid this conversation was if he jumped out of the jet. Honestly, Tony wouldn’t put that past him but Steve needed the jet to get where his third _brother_ was being held.

“Twenty minutes until we can retrieve Mr Storm, sir,” Jarvis responded and Tony nodded in thanks, enabling the autopilot before he turned to Steve.

“If we’re going to do this whole rescue your brother thing I think we should both come clean and I’m going to admit that I did some digging into your past,” Tony told the man but instead of blowing up Steve just shook his head, a tiny smile pulling at his lips.

“I’d be more surprised if you hadn’t,” the Captain admitted and Tony frowned at him because it was disconcerting how well Steve knew him but that wasn’t the point here.

“Your brothers killed people didn’t they?” Tony asked and a tiny part of brain was screaming at him because seriously, this was how he was going to start the conversation? Steve’s expression had darkened and Tony could all but see the man closing himself off. “Ok, I could have put that better. I know that the people they killed weren’t good people and I can’t judge. I’ve done some messed up things myself; I mean I used to build fucking nuclear weapons. So between the two of us I’d think there’s more blood on my hands than there is on your brothers’.”

Steve cocked his head to the side and for a second Tony didn’t see Captain America, the man that the whole world looked up to. Steve’s eyes were cold in a way that made Tony wonder if maybe he hadn’t been wrong about everything but then it was gone, so quickly that he might have imagined it.

“Jake and Johnny weren’t the only ones taking lives out there,” Steve whispered and Tony bit his lip to resist the urge to interrupt because this was Steve’s story and he needed to tell it. “My mom raised me to not be a bully, to be someone that we could both be proud of but no one’s perfect. The serum helped me become a hero but it also let me see the things I was trying to hide from. Johnny and Jake are more than just copies of me; they are me, just like I’m them. Everything that they did, everything they’re capable of, I’m just as responsible for as they are. Back then we were at war and while the people wanted a hero, they didn’t want to know what I had to do to keep them alive. My brothers knew and they helped, I’m not saying that they didn’t get some sort of pleasure out of some of the things that they did but they’re good men. That’s the only reason why I’m going out there now because if I thought that they needed to be stopped I’d do it and damn the consequences.”

Tony licked his lips when Steve stopped. “I believe you,” he responded after a long beat of silence and he did because Steve would martyr himself before he let any form of injustice happen because of him. It was a damn good thing that Tony was here because God knows what type of trouble Steve would have gotten into by now. “I believe you,” he repeated, waiting until Steve met his eyes. “And I’m gonna be right here by your side until we make sure that your brothers are safe. I’m not even going to make inappropriate comments about the dirty, dirty thoughts I’m going to be having when I see the three of you together but that doesn’t mean that I’m not gonna be thinking it,”

Steve snorted and the sound made the ache in Tony’s chest lessen because he never wanted to see Steve look so defeated. He never wanted to see the man look like anything but the hero he was and if Tony had to throw every innuendo he knew at the man to ensure that that happened then so be it.

“Thank you,” Steve sighed and Tony inclined his head in acceptance of the words even as Steve kept staring at him. “Tony, you know that I, I really…..”

“No, nope, uh uh, not gonna hear it. You aren’t going to give me some war speech like you’re not coming home with me after this and ok maybe I’m jumping the gun and you’re not going to say what I think you’re going to say. But even if it’s a completely different topic, I still don’t want to hear it until _after_ all of this is over and done with because you are going to be coming back, right?”

Steve grinned. “Of course, I just thought that since we were here….”

“Steve, Steven, if you say something to me right now that makes me think that I have an inkling of a chance of climbing into those tights of yours, and seriously I could take your measurement in that damn costume. But I digress, if you make me distracted and I end up losing vital body parts I’ll never forgive you.”

This time Steve’s laughter was wholehearted and Tony grinned right back at him.

“Ok, I’ll wait until we’re back at home.” Steve agreed and Tony wasn’t ever going to admit how having Steve think of the mansion as his home made him feel so he turned away switching the controls back to manual. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the way Steve’s grin shifted into a more serious expression and Tony focused on the skies in front of him because they had someone to save and though he didn’t know this Jake guy, he was important to Steve and that was enough for Tony.

*O*

Clay wasn’t a stupid man; he wouldn’t have gotten as far in the army as he’d managed if he had been. People looked at his team and their attention was instantly drawn to him and Roque because of how they carried themselves. Even Pooch got second glances because the potential for violence was always there lurking just beneath Pooch’s calm demeanour but people always missed the important things.

If anyone had ever stopped to ask him Clay would’ve identified Jensen as the one in his team that made him worry the most, though he could never put his finger on why. On the surface Jensen was your typical blond and he seemed more suited for the beaches of California instead of the army but first impressions were rarely right. Then there was Cougar. The sniper exuded danger with every breath but Carlos was controlled, unlike Jensen who was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Or what Clay would have said was that both men were _manageable_ as long as the other was present, which put him in a fucked up situation because the longer that Jensen was missing the more Cougar’s attention focused on Aisha.

Clay knew that most of his team resented the woman’s presence but they needed her to find Max and now they needed her to find Jensen as well.

Aisha rubbed at her temple with one hand as she hung up the phone and the expression on her face told Clay that she either had bad news or no news at all.

“Nobody’s talking and if we stay here for much longer then Max is going to track us down,” she sighed.

The sound of boots hitting the floor made Clay’s attention flicker to Roque who had straightened in his seat, his dark eyes fixed on Aisha. “So you want us to run and leave Jensen here? Cause let me tell you I’m all for a fucking trade, your head for Jensen.”

Aisha sneered at him, anger written clearly on her face. “Are you trying to tell me that you can’t find another hacker? Do you dumb shits think that Max is going to invite us over for tea and……”

The woman’s words trailed off as she froze and it took Clay a moment to realize that Cougar had moved from the shadows where he’d been lurking since Clay had returned with Pooch.

At first Clay thought that the sniper was simply standing behind Aisha but when he shifted the glint of silver pressed against the woman’s throat became obvious and Clay was out of his seat in an instant.

“Cougar, stand down!” he barked but Carlos’ eyes just met his, empty and devoid of any type of emotion but rage. The knife pressed closer and Aisha, swung her elbow back at the same time that Carlos’ gripped her hair with his free hand wrenching it upwards until she was forced up onto her toes. “We fucking need her!” Clay spat, trying to get the situation under control but Cougar’s lips just twisted into a mocking smirk.

“You need her, we don’t. We never have,” the man retorted and Clay’s eyes narrowed when Roque moved to stand beside Cougar, casting Aisha a look that said he’d spit on her corpse if Cougar slit her neck.

“I fucking told you, Clay. You keep listening to this bitch and what’s it done? You’re gonna lose us; you’ve already fucking lost Jensen. What’s it gonna take until you open your eyes?” Roque asked and his 2IC sounded tired, even more tired than he had after the copter went down.

Clay wasn’t surprised when Pooch moved to stand by his teammates, the move hit him like a boot to the gut but he wasn’t surprised.

“We need Jensen, Clay. We need him more than her,” Pooch muttered and Clay licked his dry lips because this was a no win situation.

A trickle of blood slipped down Aisha’s throat as Cougar pressed the knife closer and Clay’s muscles tensed……

Then the phone rang, a shrill demand in the silence that seemed to shatter the tension in everyone.

*O*

Johnny was a mess when they got to him and Steve wondered how his brother hadn’t set the entire city on fire yet. As the jet touched down the man came hurtling towards it and suddenly he was up in Steve’s personal space pressing their heads together. That was all it took, the brief skin to skin contact sent the pain that Jake had managed to hide from Steve tumbling into his head and his grip on his brother was the only thing that kept him standing.

“I’m not going to say that this isn’t touching cause it is….” Tony’s voice broke into Steve’s head and he pulled away just in time to catch the speculative look that the scientist was levelling on Johnny. “Ok, this is freaky….hot, because there is so much potential here, but still freaky,” Tony mused as he stepped forward, hand held out and Johnny shot Steve a look when he grasped the man’s hand.

“Johnny Storm, it’s nice to finally meet you. Reed’s always talking about you, Mr Stark,”

Tony wrinkled his nose at the greeting. “It’s Tony, Mr Stark reminds me of my father, you might have met him and just to keep us on the right foot please don’t mention how much of a hero the man was because I’d rather not hear it. Also never believe anything that Reed said about me, he’s a jealous nerd that just happens to be my arch nemesis. At least he’s my scientific arch nemesis. I say that all the time so that he can feel better about himself. The man has ego issues,”

Johnny snorted, glancing back at Steve and he could feel his brother’s approval, not that Steve had needed it because there wasn’t a force on this earth that could make him leave Tony behind.

“So, nice catching up and I loved the whole brotherly bonding back there even though you’re technically the same person but Rogers number three still needs our help so chop, chop!” he ordered, turning on his heel, leaving Johnny and Steve no choice but to follow.

“Is it me or does he remind you a little bit of Jake?” Johnny inquired and Steve glared at his grinning brother because the last thing he wanted to be accused of was narcissism. Plus Tony was right Jake needed them now.

*O*

Jensen blinked, trying to blearily focus on the blurred outline of the door. His entire body felt like a gigantic bruise and he gritted his teeth against a scream when a particularly vicious shard of pain tore through his head.

He could feel Steve and Johnny battering against the barriers that kept their minds separated but he kept the block in place. Steve hadn’t known about the connection at first, neither had Johnny, but Jensen had and he was the most adept at manipulating it. There was no way that he was about to let his brothers have to experience his pain. This was his fight and the other two had enough trouble, he wasn’t going to heap his own on their shoulders as well.

“Jake!”

The mental shout made Jensen wince as a flood of worry and anger poured into his mind. Steve’s presence had always been like this. It was like a supernova had burst to life behind Jensen’s eyelids and for a second he let himself fall into it. He knew that the serum had created him and Johnny but sometimes he thought that fate would have found some other way for it to happen because Steve was too much for one body. Even dimmed, as they were, Steve’s emotions made Jensen want to reach out.

“Jake, fucking wake up!”

That was Johnny but it wasn’t just in Jensen’s head anymore. It took him a long moment to realize that the strange banging that he could hear was coming from just outside the door, then the wooden frame went flying. Suddenly Johnny and Steve were there, fingers tugging at the bonds that kept Jensen anchored to the seat and he turned his head to grin at them because his brothers couldn’t be here, there was no way.

“Hey, Steve, you look real angry like that time me and Johnny pranked Bucky,” Jensen slurred, hissing out a sharp breath when the hallucinations tugged too hard on his injured arm. Jensen was pretty sure that all of his fingers were broken but he didn’t want to focus on that right now, not when dream Johnny was bursting into flames like a malfunctioning lighter. “Think Johnny needs a fire extinguisher,” Jensen snickered and dream Johnny rolled his eyes so hard that for a minute Jensen could see nothing but the whites. It was damn freaky seeing his own face mimicking a twelve year old girl and he must have said as much because dream Steve was frowning at him.

“Jake, I need you to listen to me. This is real,” the man told him but Jensen just shook his head.

“Nope, not real. Can’t be real. Fucking Aisha made me get caught, said to stay like I was a dog but I did cause he killed all those kids. They were just babies, I couldn’t save them and they were….” Jensen trailed off as he sucked in a ragged breath. “Steve’s not coming for me, gonna die here. We’re all gonna die again cause of me.”

“Jake, we _are_ here!” dream Johnny snapped but Jensen just turned his face away from him.

“Didn’t even get to tell Cougs the truth, wish they could’ve met him. He’s fucking perfect and he loves me, I think….” Jensen’s head lolled to the side so that he could meet dream Steve’s eyes again.  “I don’ wanna die again,” he whispered and the hallucination said something, Jensen could see his mouth moving but he couldn’t hear a damn thing as the darkness  spread across his vision like a fog.

*O*

Steve caught Jake as he slumped forward, hoisting his brother up into his arms. He could hear the sounds of Iron Man blasting through the small group that they’d found in the old warehouse but by the time he hit the corridor Tony was keeping stride with him, his raised visor hiding his expression.

Steve was thankful that Tony didn’t try to make him talk and behind them Johnny was a body of heat that Steve could feel through his suit.  All he could see was red as he remembered the look of desperation in Jake’s eyes as he told them his secrets and he wondered how he’d missed so much.

Jake had always been the loner, the one that Steve had to drag kicking and screaming onto the right path but now his brother had found it by himself. Jake had found more than just a reason to survive, he’d found a reason to live and to see him so broken….

Steve exhaled as they stepped outside, the cool air chilling his skin where Jake’s blood had wet it.

“Johnny,” he whispered and his brother stepped forward. “Raze it,” he ordered because the person who was behind this was long gone but Steve didn’t want the place to stand for a second longer.

Johnny didn’t respond, he didn’t have to, not when the explosion of flames slammed into the old construct sending smoke spiralling into the evening sky.

Steve didn’t know who the hell had done this but Tony had found enough to give them a name and he was sure that Jake’s team would give them more.

All Steve needed was a face to go with that name and then he could track the man down because no one fucked with his brothers.


End file.
